episode_0020

Deep night. In the capital, there was a space where those who ruled this country stayed.

The place where all decisions for the country begin, proceed, and are decided. People called it the palace. The palace, located a little away from the capital city, was armed with iron walls and moats, and was more like a fortress than a palace. It was a practical palace befitting a country that had fought against the demons for a long time. Perhaps that was why it was clearly located away from the city center where people lived.

Even in a practical fortress, many people were asleep at night. Most of the people walking around were guards lighting and turning off torches, and servants standing guard late at night.

Meanwhile, there was a man in the palace who could hardly sleep. He was no ordinary man. He was a man who could decide and command important affairs of the nation with a single word, a single movement, or a single glance. People called him king, and he had been performing that office until now.

The king was now in his study, looking up at the moon in the night sky, lost in thought.

“Moonlight bathing is too much, Your Majesty.”

There was someone who approached the king with light speech.

Assassin? No. The king sighed. Truly, he was such a frivolous and rude man that it was hard to believe he had once been a nobleman. However, he did not think he would maintain his attitude even in such a private setting, not in an official setting.

Even though it was a monarchy, it was not a country that used its status outside of public places. It was different from a thorough country like the Northern Kingdom.

“You are the one who dares to come quietly to the King’s office. You’ve really poured out your liver.”

“Oh. As far as I remember, the person who arranged our meeting today is here. There is someone who has asked me to come secretly to the King’s office. As far as I know, he is tall, has gray hair, black eyes, and wears a red veil and a gold-decorated crown on his head that he never takes off, even at night. He is a bit strange…”

“If you say any more, I’ll beat you up for blasphemy, so keep talking.”

The king snickered while talking about blasphemy. The uninvited guest who showed up also laughed. He was a man with an impressive mustache. He was almost the only man who had maintained this kind of relationship for over 20 years.

Twenty years ago, he was the man who had a long and drawn-out discussion about how to run this country. And he was also a great manipulator who had unknowingly supported the kingdom by becoming the next guild master of the ‘Adventurer’s Guild’. Dolores Rashford was such a middle-aged man.

Behind the scenes, he was a brilliant talent who never stopped coming up with novel ideas to help the kingdom grow and overcome crises.

However, the fact that the man was of noble descent and had risen to the position of head of the ‘Adventurer’s Guild’, an organization he had no connection with, would have been something that would have made people with sufficient knowledge of aristocratic society tilt their heads in confusion.

And yet, the man who had put such an absurd idea into action was now laughing behind the king.

“Oh my, I don’t want to die yet. I’ll stop.”

“You speak well.”

The King snorted. He knew the character of the man named Dolores Rashford well, so she was a resource he could use if he just responded well.

Above all, although he put his ingenious ideas into action and achieved many accomplishments, surprisingly, he did not ask the king for unreasonable requests or rewards. In most cases, he simply refused rewards within a reasonable range or made unusual requests.

For example, giving a long vacation to one adventurer with a gold badge like 15 months ago, or building a royal library near the guild headquarters like in the distant past.

“I heard you’ve been out and about a lot lately. Are you feeling a little queasy? I remember you were usually hanging out in fancy buildings.”

“Oh my. With the current situation, I can’t help but run around. As the head of the Adventurer’s Guild, I’m a little resentful when I’m this busy.”

“Do you resent me? Or this country?”

“It’s my position and responsibility. Of course.”

Rashford proved that he was no ordinary man, easily accepting the king’s provocative words. He would answer the king’s questions with a smile, and the king enjoyed asking provocative questions and getting witty answers from him despite such an attitude.

Position and responsibility. You really are good at talking. The king turned his head and said.

“Does that position and responsibility include informing the world of the details of the duel between the saint and Opperspelle?”

“As expected, you knew that.”

Without much ado, Rashford agreed.

Of course, he also knew that the king was no ordinary man. Although he seemed gentle and generous on the outside, when he was conducting secret operations, he exuded a sinister air reminiscent of the legendary minister of the Northern Kingdom, Calliagalli.

And, even more so now, when one can see through people’s minds. The position of king was not obtained for nothing.

“I know you well. How could you not know when you’re so openly selling your face? You’ve leaked the story not only to Bronchost, but also to the Leicht, Pentasilya, Jiyeah, and Persina families. Thanks to that, the story has been brought up here and there in the palace and at noble banquets. There’s even a small debate about whether it’s greed or a brilliant plan. Of course, there’s a very important piece of information missing from their stories. The information you’ve cleverly hidden. The information that everyone is curious about. Isn’t that right?”

“I cannot help but admire Your Majesty’s insight and reasoning skills.”

Rashford bowed his head to the king with excessive courtesy. He had said earlier that he would beat him up if he kept complaining. It could be interpreted that he meant it, so he left it alone.

Rather, he looked at Rashford as if he was asking for an explanation. Rashford smiled broadly and began to answer the king’s request.

“As Your Majesty knows, isn’t it difficult to see this duel as an ordinary duel? Only a very few people know its true intention, and most people only know that it was a condition imposed on the saintess by Bronkhorst due to some kind of insult or greed. Aren’t there many people who don’t know? Even the secrets of the saintess’ power, or the secrets of the warrior’s power, that Your Majesty and I know?”

“Yes. It’s a secret so important that you can’t just let it out. Surely you wouldn’t be leaking information to leak such a secret, right?”

“That’s not true. Even if you wanted to know, it would be impossible unless you were a noble of the highest rank. However, as the Master of the Adventurer’s Guild, I am simply acting to prevent threats that are difficult to control. Even if it puts me at risk, as the head of the organization, it is essential for the organization’s benefit.”

“I don’t quite understand. Please explain further.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. First of all, as Your Majesty knows, Count Bronkhorst is clearly at an advantage in this duel. Even if they were to represent you or even if they were the legitimate heirs of the Bronkhorst family, they would have a much higher chance of winning in a one-on-one duel against the Saintess. Especially if ‘that day’ were the duel day. However, I had a different thought. If, if they were to harbor any fear that they might ‘lose’, I had a premonition that they might do something. Of course, even if the possibility of their defeat was extremely high. ”

“That’s strange. Even though the possibility of defeat is low, you’re preparing for what to do after defeat. Isn’t that contradictory?”

“Yes. However, there is no such thing as a perfect victory. During the past 20 years of my loyalty to Your Majesty, I have felt it deeply. What remains after victory is not always happiness.”

“That’s true.”

The king remembered the past.

I remember the hellish era of the Demon King. He took over the central part of the continent, cut off the thin thread of communication between the Northern and Southern Kingdoms, and constantly attacked the human forces, driving them into despair.

“If the Saint defeats them all and wins, Count Bronkhorst will likely lose everything. Honor, reputation, everything. Because, although they challenged and lost to the ‘Saint’ in public, in reality, it’s no different from losing to an ‘ordinary woman’. Furthermore, if they lose and gain nothing after going this far, it will be a great humiliation for the Bronkhorst family. In that case, they will do whatever it takes to get what they want after the duel. I think that’s likely to happen, so I’m just taking a little action. ”

“I understand, just a little bit.”

Yes. The greed of the Counts of Bronkhorst was well known to the king. So, despite his reasoning and persistent investigation, they had cleverly escaped the investigation net and were not brought to justice. It was exactly 16 months ago. The king remembered that time.

In the end, it ended up only disposing of the members of the dukedom, saying that it was a waste of time and resources, but at that time, I was confident that I could have pushed the Bronkhorst Counts to ruin if I had just paid a little more attention. Of course, the king, who was very merciful, thought that going that far was truly a waste and left it alone.

“But that’s not enough. You can bet everything on low odds. No, it’s low odds on the outside. You know something. Something hidden, not the information you and I share. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to confidently show your face like this. So, former Marquis Rashford. I’ll ask you again.”

“What are you hiding?”

Rashford kept his smile. There was no wavering. But there was something odd about the smile. There was a sinisterness to it. There was a hint of a feeling that he was not afraid to reveal his hidden card.

The king was slightly nervous. He honestly had no idea what would come out of his mouth. Finally, the guildmaster opened his mouth, determined to reveal his secret weapon in front of the most powerful person in the country.

“Information about who the next great saintess is.”

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“Is today the last day?”

“Yes. The training schedule ends today.”

“But…”

The saintess tried to say more, but soon looked at Glenn’s face and trailed off. The man’s face, signaling the end of training, was calm and confident.

The training of the saint and Glenn, which had been going on for exactly 40 days, ended with a duel with a single monster. And as previously announced, Glenn declared the end of the training.

“As I said before, what you need from now on is to keep your body in the best condition possible until the day of the event. And since you have to fight without the strength of a saint, you have to keep it in the best condition possible. If that’s the case, training is nothing but poison. From now on, take your time, and do light stretching and gymnastics every day, and then relax and rest. You don’t have to declare war in the morning. It’s more effective if you don’t. Well, if you want, you can go for a walk or something. However, additional training is prohibited. ”

Glenn says firmly, no more is needed. In fact, as Glenn said at the beginning, this was all the training he had planned.

First step, avoiding mud balls. Mastering the basics of footwork and starting to overcome the fear of being attacked. Since it was the first training she did, the saint’s muscle pain was the most severe after the training. When Glenn accidentally said that the training was originally done by throwing stones, the saint suggested that she change it to stones, but Glenn was able to persuade her to stop.

Second stage, avoiding punches at close range. This was a training to avoid Glenn’s punches. Glenn attacked much slower and had a shield set up with divine magic, but the fear caused by the punches filled with murderous intent was no joke. This was a training that proved Glenn was a high-level adventurer. This was the training where I had the most trouble because I couldn’t properly time the moment when the saintess evaded the next attack.

Third, very slow sparring. It was a training where two people sparred, but both their footwork and body movements were synchronized at a very slow speed. When they first tried it, the saintess wondered, “Will this be training?” because the movements were so slow, but she was surprised by the great fatigue that came after the training. Glenn said that it was a training to understand the opponent’s body movements in detail and remember them and move in real combat.

And the last fourth, actually fighting monsters, etc. All the training lasted for 10 days each. The saintess, who had been running without any particular complaints, or rather with the thought that the training was too little, felt quite empty as time passed. Is this all? No, is it okay if this is all? Such anxiety came over her.

“Is this really okay?”

“Of course, Militia. If you don’t believe me, look at yourself. ”

At those words, Milicia absentmindedly looked back at herself.

As before, it was light clothing. A shirt that was easy to move in and pants that went down to the knees. And a ribbon that tied her hair back, that was all she wore. And the important thing was her body.

Compared to before, something about her skeleton was a little different. It was a change that was hard to see when she strengthened herself with divine power. It was definitely a positive change in her physical ability as a ‘Militia Air Grants’, not as a saint. It was quite difficult, though.

‘Well, it was hard, but… I actually felt like the last training session was easier than the rest.’

Yes. Their last training looked dangerous on the outside, but it was actually very easy. Most of the monsters wandering around the training grounds were humanoid. However, they were incomparably weaker than the orcs, ogres, and goblins that you could meet outside.

Glenn took away her weapon and forced her to spar with the saintess. The saintess had enough experience in defeating monsters, so she adapted more easily than expected. So after repeating it several times, it was over before she knew it. Glenn smiled and spoke in a relaxed tone to the saintess, who was still hesitant and dumbfounded since her training had just ended.

“Don’t worry, Militia. You’ve gone through training that no ordinary person could even dream of. You’ve done much better than I did when I was young. And I can assure you that we’ve done our best, so there’s no need for anything more. From now on, all we can do is maintain the best body and mind possible and go into the duel. Body like steel, mind like water. You may be nervous, but if you calm your body and mind, you’ll get better. Definitely. ”

Glenn reassured the saintess by quoting the Master’s maxim, and she barely managed to convince him to some extent.

Glenn realized that his speech had completely changed when he talked to the saint recently, except during training time. Before, he had been businesslike, serious, and somewhat stiff. It was a speech that came from the pressure of having to show a good image to the saint, and his heart raced whenever the saint came. Except when he was flustered and broke down, and when he confessed his feelings about ‘that incident’.

However, after I admitted all my suppressed desire for revenge and true feelings, I felt less hesitant to speak. No, I wanted to think about her and be more considerate of her than before. When I tried to speak while thinking of Milicia as Milicia, not Milicia as a saint, I found myself speaking in a comfortable and gentle tone.

So, it became possible to tell jokes like this.

“If there’s anything you need or want from me during this time, feel free to come see me anytime. Oh, and if you’re going out for a walk or something, please call me.”

“…”

Oh, oh, maybe I got ahead of myself.

Suddenly, at those words, the saintess looked troubled. Her face was quite serious, and Glenn felt the bright smile he had worked so hard to create crumble.

I failed. I had already forgotten the advice Briwen whispered to me before! Yes. I hadn’t realized it until Briwen spoke, but I understood it now. The relationship between me and the saint was still seen by those around me as nothing more than colleagues.

Of course. Most of the time they spent together was spent purely on training, and the only private conversation they had was on the short walk back to the capital.

I’m sorry. I’m sorry I don’t have any dating experience. Oh my, I’m single so I made mistakes. Oh my, when will I ever meet someone like this again?

While Glenn was sighing inwardly, the saintess opened her mouth as if she had decided on an answer.

“That’s right. When I go out for a walk…”

“Oh, yes?”

At that moment, the saint smiled at him, who did not understand Milicia’s words. Ah. It was purified. Just that small smile made him feel better and at ease. And at the saint’s next words, Glenn became nervous and sweated.

“Glen, can you spare me a day tomorrow? A walk… no, a date. ”